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Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, led by GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, making the argument that Republicans have a winning hand when it comes to messaging over the government shutdown — even as the stalemate drags on into a 15th day.
To the group’s chair, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., that’s because the ball is solidly in the Democrats’ court.
“We’re in the second week of a shutdown with no end in sight. Hopefully, the Senate Democrats change their minds and decide to reopen the government. But until then, the Republicans are standing together,” Harris said.
During the call, members doubled down on support for the clean-spending extension Republicans advanced last month — not just as a matter of policy, but also as a facet of public opinion.
“I think if the American people understand the truth, they will put pressure on their Democratic senators to actually open up the government,” McClain said.
Republicans need the support of at least seven Democrats in the Senate to clear the 60-vote threshold to pass spending legislation over a filibuster. The GOP holds 53 seats in the chamber.
Congress remains gridlocked over funding allocations for the 2026 fiscal year which began at the start of October. Although Republicans had advanced a short-term spending plan to keep the government open through Nov. 21, the government entered a shutdown on Oct. 1 when Democrats made it clear they wouldn’t support any spending extension without a key add-on: the continuation of emergency, COVID-era healthcare subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025.
“We passed it clean, no gimmicks. No gimmicks, no tricks, just at the exact same funding levels, of which, I might add, the Democrats put in place, that they voted for 13 times ago, as recently as March. But Democrats killed it,” McClain said, referring to the Republican-led stopgap legislation.
Republicans have framed the standoff as a Democrat attempt to take the government hostage over bloated government programs that would add billions to the country’s expenses.
Democrats see the shutdown as a Republican refusal to negotiate over healthcare — one that will spike the monthly premiums of anyone currently relying on the expanded COVID-era subsidies to pay for Obamacare health insurance plans.
Members of the Freedom Caucus said that consideration of some sort of tax-credit extension is still out of the question.
“The bottom line is that the COVID-era enhancements have to end. Should we be looking at other reforms to Obamacare to stop the upward spiral of insurance premiums? Sure, we should. But to discuss, again, COVID-era enhancements as the Democrats want to do is a complete nonstarter,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Tx., said.
That’s of particular focus to the House Freedom Caucus; since its formation in 2015, the group has always had its eye on reeling in government spending.
Some members of the caucus noted that it’s unusual for the group to support a clean-funding extension at levels the group believes are too high to begin with.
“We’ve given [in] to the Democrats by extending the Biden policies, Biden funding. We could put Republican priorities — Republican funding requests on this, but we didn’t. So, we have already given [in] on this. They are demanding more. Well, not this time,” Harris said.
As the shutdown enters a third week, neither side has signaled an intent to blink any time soon.
The Senate will consider spending legislation again on Thursday. If it fails, it will mark the 10th time Democrats have rejected the Republican-led spending extension.
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